Patagonia NYC commissioned me to illustrate the art for the windows of their four stores in Manhattan (Soho, Bowery, Meatpacking and the Upper West Side).
In partnership with the Laru Beya Collective, an NGO dedicated to empowering the underrepresented youth of the Rockaways through surfing and other outdoor activities, these windows are meant to bring awareness to the Collective's mission and work. The art will be on display until June 2021, campaigning to support a bill that will mandate water safety instruction in schools, crucial to implementing inclusivity and to preserving lives.
2021
Below are the final results, standing on the streets of Manhattan, proud and colorful, and toward the end, I share a bit of the process of how I got there.
For more info about Laru Beya visit https://www.larubeyacollective.com/watersafety
The intention from the beginning was for the pieces to feel joyful, busy with life, color and energy, in motion almost.
While there’s many young girls and boys, the focus was set on trying to make them feel as if they were all part of the same flow of energy, connected.
To achieve this, their figures are clearly recognizable and particular, along with the activity they are doing (i.e. surfing, climbings, skateboarding) but they are woven together by color stripes and semi-geometric shapes. These are meant to both enhance the direction of the illustration in a design sense but also create a sort of echo, a field of energy that, when seen from far away -as you appreciate the full illustration- hopefully vibrates as one,
...As though they are at the same time both full-of-life individuals and part of one bigger wave altogether.
The install - Courtesy of Patagonia©
